The Hunt
by groovyuv
Summary: Abandoned! Harry turns his back on the light to take down Voldemort from the inside, but as the saying goes, When one stares into the abyss the abyss stares back
1. Prelude

The Hunt by Darknessallover 

The Prelude 

Four Dementors flanked a dark haired boy. They came to a high door, and it opened before the demons. The boy straightened his back, flicking his hair out of his face. The crowd of spectators just sat in a tense silence. The Judges of the Wizengamot sat with the utmost loathing on their faces. The jury sat with confused looks upon their faces.

Cornilus Fudge, head of the Wizengamot and Minister of Magic of Greater Britain, Stood looking down his nose at the boy being brought before him. The boy was led to a chair and sat forcibly down. The chains on the arms glowed gold and snaked around his arms and up his shoulders. He held his head up high, looking disdainfully at the judges above him.

"We will presume you are Harry Potter and proceed with the trial." The minister stated pompously. 

"Well you are wrong on that count. I am not Harry Potter." The boy told them.

"Yes you are. Do not stall it will do you no good." Said the minister angrily.

"I was born _Harry Potter_," he spat the name as though it was too foul to give even that, "I am no longer him. Harry Potter died, and from his ashes I was born. If you must speak to me, you may address me as Anima Denuo Acerbus." He told them.

"It does not matter." The minister said, anger shining quite clearly in his eyes. "You have been accused of: four counts use of an Unforgivable, Ten counts use of the Dark arts, and two counts murder. What do you plead?" he said confident that he was in the right.

"I plead to no one. I am here because I have finished my purpose. Otherwise I would have escaped and ran." Acerbus told them haughtily. 

"You **will** plead or we will make one for you. You are at the mercy of this court, it would do you good to remember that!" A furious woman judge had stood and shouted.

The boy's eyes flashed, pure, unadulterated, wrath flowed from him like a waterfall. He stood, breaking the chains on his arms, "**I am at no mere wizards _mercy_. **I would like to remind you that it is _you _who is at _my_ mercy. You have no idea what I could do to you!" he shouted at them. He sat again and took a bored attitude with them as a whole, "If you insist I will plead not guilty." The shocked courtroom looked fearfully at him, all but one. The minister of magic's anger was even greater than before. 

Now is where we must divert from what promises to be an interesting trial. For to completely understand the events that follow we must first see the tale itself. 

A hunt. A hunt for a murderer, and her extermination. The story of a boy that became a man. A tale of rage, of blood, of pain, and of death. 

What happened for a boy to seek out, torture, and kill a woman? Well it all started with a letter. A letter from the woman he killed. A letter from Bellatrix Lestrange. 


	2. The Letter

The Hunt 

Chapter one- A letter

_Dear Harry,                                                                                                                                         July 5_

_How are you? I do hope that you are mourning your good-for-nothing godfather. He really was nothing. What you should be doing is leaving, I mean you have caused two deaths now, directly, and the deaths of so many others because you let The Dark Lord rise. And you couldn't even avenge Sirius, Harry, you couldn't cause me any pain, you failed him, you failed everybody, you're a failure, you can't do anything by yourself can you? But then again you are just a baby, you can't really think for yourself can you? You know, I am glad I killed Sirius, I can just imagine the pain you are in, I revel in the picture of your pain, your tears are a treasure. Oh and while I'm talking to you, you can tell the Longbottom boy that I said 'hi'. His parents screamed for so long before they gave in finally. It was bliss listening to them. Now do take care of yourself Harry, I'll see you again, I'm sure._

_                                                                        Bellatrix Lestrange_

Harry read the letter. He read it again, numb. Again and again, he read the letter. It had come with a crow, and the dark mark as a seal. Finally after a very long time he felt something. Anger. No, fury. Wrath. Loathing. It all boiled inside of him as he read the letter. She took such pleasure in it, the pain. It infuriated him. He felt the same hate and anger as when he cast the crucio on her last month, except something was different. 

He didn't just want her dead, no, he wanted to see her pay for everything she had done, he wanted to pay her back and double it. He wanted to give her the pain she gives to others. That was what was different. 

But then her words were true. He had failed. The hate was replaced with tears in a second. He had never cried before. He couldn't. Crying showed weakness, and his uncle and cousin prayed on weakness. This was the first he had cried. He felt like a child, and was reminded of the letter. He was just a baby. He cried. He couldn't do anything for himself. He had to have Dumbledore do it for him. His hands shook as his mood quickly shifted to self-loathing. 

His whole body quaked with rage. He couldn't do anything. He was hopeless. People thought he was a great person, one to look up to. He started to laugh, a helpless laugh, the laugh of a person who knows that everything is a lie. It turned into a crazed, manic laugh. The irony was so complete. The one that they had the highest expectations of was probably the most hopeless of them all. The laughter died to tears.

Then they stopped. He knew what must be done. He must rectify his mistakes. But how. What could he do? Then he knew. All he needed was a plan and two curses. He knew one, and the other he was sure he could work. A plan was the hard part. A cold calculating look came to his eyes.

He knew he must leave. And the best way to track a death eater would be to become one. That was the difficult one. He would figure that out when he got to it. Now he had to start leaving. It was 11:30. he had an hour until Dumbledore's men changed guard. He looked around, what would he need? The less he took the better. He would need wand of course. He needed to be somewhere where there were lots of wizards. Diagon Ally. How to get there? Firebolt. Invisibility cloak. He grabbed everything. And set up at the window. He would need to be ready to go.

He would have to change his appearance, he added to his checklist in his mind. He then thought of something frightening. Voldermort was a master Legilimens. What could he do? He was a novice Occulmens at best. Maybe he could learn more. He doubted it. But he would have to try. For Sirius. 'He wanted me to become the best Occulmens I could. I failed him at that too.' His eyes misted, but he shook his head, he needed a clear mind. His emotions were getting the better of him. He looked at the sky. He could see the Dog Star Sirius up there. He felt slightly comforted, knowing he would always be watching over him.    

He found the North Star, and remembered that that was the direction he needed to go. Finally he heard the faint pops of people apperating out. He kicked out of the window, his invisibility cloak flapping a bit in the wind. He headed in the vague direction of London up north. He settled himself for the journey, making sure the cloak covered him and the broomstick. He looked down at the house that he had lived in, and had been tortured in for 16 years. Hopefully he would never see it again. 

He cursed the house and its residents. He would never regret leaving. 


	3. Training

The Hunt Darknessallover 

Chapter 2- Hiding and preparations.

He landed inside Diagon Ally, cold permeated his very being it seemed. He stuffed his invisibility cloak into his pocket, and shouldered his broom. He walked to Gringotts withdrew some money, and returned to the street. No one was there at that time of night. He needed to change his appearance badly. But how? If he had someone else do it they would know who he was. He could not do that, and he couldn't do magic until he found out how to do so without the ministry on his back. He pulled his black cloak over his head hiding it from view. He snuck into Nocturne Ally. Looking around there was little life here either.

He found the place he had fallen into in his second year. _Borgin and Burkes_. He walked into the store; he guessed shops on Nocturne Ally didn't close at night. He went to the counter, and rang the bell. A few minutes later Mr. Borgin came out front. "May I help you, sir?"

"I need answers to some questions." Harry said simply.

"I hope I can help you." He said, though Harry somehow doubted he did by his sleepy tone.

"How does the Ministry keep tabs on underage wizards?" Harry asked

Mr. Borgin looked at him suspiciously, "All residences that have a magical person inside, have wards that watch the underage wizards, the wards act like a beacon and track the wizard alerting the ministry if they do magic. To destroy the wards and the beacon you have to either contact the ministry and have them do it…or I could help you." He said as though expecting Harry to throw off the cloak and show an Auror badge.

"How much do you want?" Harry said, dismissing the man's fears.

"200 galleons." Harry handed over the money, Borgin pulled his wand pointed it at Harry and cast a charm and had him drink a potion to negate the wards hold on him all wards that he had ever had placed on him were now gone, Borgin explained. Harry felt as though a presence he had never known was there but was always a part of him, was suddenly gone. He pulled his wand and pointed it at the ground, "Reducto" a small hole was blown in the floor, "Reparo." The shards of wood fit themselves together again, he waited for a few minutes and when no owls came he knew it had worked. A small smile came to him under his hood. He pointed to his face, "Abeo." He face morphed, long blonde hair reaching to the bottom of his face, high cheekbones, chiseled features, and sky blue eyes. He was the picture of an angel. He lowered his hood Showing Mr. Borgin his new face.

* * *

"Thank you Mr. Borgin, I wont forget it." Harry said as he walked out the door. Outside he stood and looked around the street, nothing caught his eye. Then he saw another blonde, Lucius Malfoy, 'perfect' he thought. "Malfoy!" he shouted. The man turned to look at him.

"Do I know you?" Malfoy said dismissively.

"No. And that's the way it will stay." He grabbed Malfoy by the collar, "You will help me join the dark order or you will die." Harry whispered. Malfoy's eyes were bulging with fear.

"Y-yes I wi-ill. P-p-please d-don't hur-rt me." Harry sneered. The coward. "but first…um… you need to be uh…trained in the dark arts otherwise you wont be …of…um… any use to us."

"Sounds good _teacher_ give me a time and a place." The older man glanced nervously at Harry and thought quickly.

"Meet me here everyday from now until when you join," glancing at his watch, " around this time, from here I will take you to a training area." He said in one breath then hurried away. Harry glanced at his watch as well noting the time. A little late at night but he would talk to Malfoy

* * *

The next night at the appointed time Harry was waiting for Malfoy. When Malfoy arrived Harry informed him that he would address him Anima, and asked how they were getting to this training area.

Malfoy gave him an incredulous look then sighed, "I guess our first lesson will be apparation. They action is not hard, but it is getting your body prepared for the magic that it takes, that takes the most time. You must be subjugated to magic in increasingly larger doses until you get the feel for the amount of power usage." He looked around the dingy little area they were in. "I guess right here will do as any. _Veneficus!"_ a stream of nothing and yet everything shot from his wand into Harry's chest. He felt his insides melt then reshape, over and over again, as Malfoy added power to the spell until he felt normal with huge amounts of pure magic flowing through him.

They re-did it over and over. For hours on end they worked on it until he was ready.

The action was simple, just as Malfoy had said, he had to release that magic that was inside of himself, inside himself, picturing where he wanted to go. Ten or eleven tries later he was able to apparate across a room with ease.

Finally Malfoy told him to leave.

* * *

'They are making this harder than I thought.' He said as he sat in his new apartment two weeks later. He had told Malfoy that he would need a more permanent place to stay to continue his training, which in itself was not looking so good.

Malfoy was a brutal teacher using the Crucio liberally, but even with the pain as a boost in his learning, his wand did not want to cooperate, it just didn't like dark magic, and sometimes he felt ready to snap it for disobeying.

So he had a new wand created for dark magic from a black-market wand shop. It was tailored to him and his needs, the crafter had spent an hour giving him tests, magically and mentally, and asking about special abilities, before he even drew the outlines for his wand.

The wand itself was rather strange and completely hideous yet frightening to look at. The core was the feather of an Occamy. A strange winged snake, and instead of wood, it was the body of a Runespoor, a three headed snake, the body being cut to length, petrified, preserved, hollowed for the core, and had the slightly rattle-like tail as the tip of the wand. The handle of the wand was Occamy eggshells smelted onto the beast; the wand almost smelled of dark magic. His magic had reacted quite powerfully with the wand, making it perfect for his use (he had nearly destroyed the whole floor with a simple _reducto)_. Any magic used with it was in itself subtle and somewhat sly, the colors were mellower, and it seemed to cause less attention to be drawn to it, but was also quite strong, being the magic of himself and the two powerfully magical creatures. The best part was when he figured out he could use his parsletongue ability with it.

He was practicing with his new wand against Malfoy, seeing to put his new wand to practice, when Malfoy conjured a snake. It was a gigantic Boa that raced at him seeing to constrict him, confronted with a snake the parslemouth came to the front and he shouted a burning curse in parsletongue. It had worked, just as if he said it in Latin. The snake shriveled into ashes, and Malfoy had stood there with his mouth open for five minutes staring at him. Then hastily told him the lesson was over, nearly running away. He had probably gone to see the Dark Lord, and tell him they had found a parslemouth recruit.

He had gotten the apartment just the other day, but the days were really all becoming the same, training, wandering around, thinking of different ways to kill Bellatrix, reading, avoiding people he knew, and he spent so much time in Diagon Ally and Nocturne Ally he knew most of the owners and their families on a first name basis.

When he had told Malfoy he needed a real place and he had gotten a gleam in his eyes that Harry was started to associate with pain.

So what did Malfoy do about Harry's living arrangements? Field trip! So that day instead of practicing dark arts in the training hall they had found an apartment building nearby, found one with a good view, barged in, put up some wards, tortured the guy that owned it and killed him. Malfoy then left him to sort out all of the guy's stuff and his body, "for practice" he had said.

After he left Harry had run to the bathroom and lost his lunch and then some to the toilet, all the while repeating to himself, 'It's for the greater good. It's for the greater good. It's for my revenge. Revenge. Greater good.'

He burned everything that had belonged to nameless man; Harry needed no reminders of what he had done. The bare apartment was soon filled with his stuff. His little knick-knacks, his new furniture, everything was new and his and had nothing to do with that guy.

The dark order wanted all recruits to be fully versed in the dark arts and they needed a sponsor from the inner circle, but so far after a month of training he was still a little whelp compared to Malfoy. It was going to take a long time.

* * *

_The Boy-Who-Lived Missing! September 1st 1996_

_This reported has recently found that Harry Potter, The Boy-Who-Lived, has been missing since the beginning of the summer. Both the ministry and Hogwarts headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, have been keeping it quiet so as to not alert Lord Voldemort. A detachment of Aurors has been assigned to looking for him, scouring Magical Britain for The Boy-Who-Lived. At The Ministers Press Conference yesterday he said that they "were doing all they could to find the poor boy."_

Harry snorted as he skimmed the rest of the article full of people claiming to have sighted him. One woman said he had been sleeping with her for almost a week before the article. The woman was said to be in her 60's. Harry nearly lost it on that, he put his breakfast away no longer feeling hungry. Some people were just a little crazy over him.

He had kept the same looks that he had when he arrived three months ago, his robes were slightly nicer having been taking after Lucius, and he could've passed for Lucius' son, much to his real son's chagrin. Draco had been in a few times training with them but had been pathetic even compared to Harry, who had started improving at a much faster rate with his new wand and three months of tutelage.

They were really started delving into the dark arts now. Before they were just going over the well known dueling curses; burning curses, crushing charms, transfiguration, and several slashing and cutting jinxes. Now they started with the pain curses, torturing charms, mind spells, He had been surprised those were considered dark arts but Lucius explained that light wizards considered playing with the mind right up there with the killing curse.

The imperious was one such. An unsanctioned memory charm was the equivalent to 10 years in Azakban. Even Legilimens had to register with the ministry and undergo numerous moral and aptitude tests before they were even considered for training. The dark order had its two master Legilimens (Besides the Dark Lord himself) who taught the troops. But that was for another lesson.

They had focused in the beginning on the torture and pain curses, moved to different types of confundus charms, memory charms, and hallucination jinxes. One particularly good illusion charm that Harry favored was that of a basilisk, (you had to have encountered the illusion to be able to conjure it) his basilisk looked just like the one in the Chamber of Secrets, it scared the crap out of Lucius that he was even able to conjure it.

Lucius had slowly become a sort of strange uncle-like figure, in a distorted sort of way. Maybe it was because he had been hanging around the man so much, or the fact he looked so muck like Lucius, or Harry's own formerly hidden Slytherin side that connected to him. They were alike in more ways than either of them liked to admit.

Lucius was teaching him tons, even if he didn't like the subject, scarily enough he found he was starting to just not care about his earlier ethical issues, and even slowly becoming to like them as he imagined the target as Bellatrix or Voldemort. Lucius had also noted the emotion filled curses, but knew well enough the anger that his pupil showed.

Lucius, he found, even had a sense of humor, buried **real** deep down. Not a very nice one, but he did have one. One time Lucius was showing him different types of potions that he had to know how to make, and had taught Harry how to make a potion that worked like a hallucinogenic drug. They then slipped it to a man and watched him make a complete ass of himself in the middle of Diagon Ally. Lucius laughed so hard that he had to hold a wall for support. Later Lucius told him that he needed to release some tension and humiliating people did that nicely for him.

Today he should have been on the train to Hogwarts but had decided that it was unneeded, besides he didn't even want to think about getting caught practicing dark arts in school. Plus someone might have even talked him out of his campaign to end Bellatrix's life. He didn't want to stop, he needed to be rid of her, avenge his godfather, revenge for the dishonor she had laid upon him, and finally to rid the world of her presence. And his plan so far was working great to get at her. He had her death all planed, he would get her by herself, give her the _crucio,_ showing her that he was no child that couldn't get a curse right. Then kill her after a few taunts, maybe even revealing himself to her before she died. He was stuck on how to kill her though; one idea was the cruciotus until she broke, just like she did to the Longbottoms. Then there was the good old killing curse to fall back on. Poisons, beheading, blood loss, beaten physically to death. He didn't know they all sounded good to him. Too bad he couldn't kill her then raise her back to life…and kill her again! That was a good one, but necromancy was a just bit out of his league. Only the powerful sorcerers of old had even enough power to even give life to a bunny at their max.

Wizards of today had nowhere near that much power. Voldemort had maybe enough power to give life back to a bacterium, then die of severe magical exhaustion. Maybe he could convince Voldemort to try to raise something like a dog, and have him die. Except, no, he, Harry, had to kill the bastard. It probably wouldn't work if it were just indirect, he most likely had to be the direct cause of death of the Most Powerful Dark Lord in a Century. It sounded like some game show, he thought sardonically.

In his independent studies of the dark arts he discovered that just last century there was a dark lord that was stronger than Voldemort. People forget really fast he thought with his now familiar sarcasm, this guy wasn't nearly as bad as Voldemort though just more powerful. He was a Necromancer, of a different kind than the normal, by the name of Master Corehic. His special brand of necromancy that he created worked by instead of giving life back to its original body, he stole the essence of the person giving him a part of the magical powers of the person, after a person died every few seconds a chunk of its power left, with its essence, and soul, and Corehic took that power, but even in the fast times he got to the bodies, he still only managed to get about 5% of a persons power at most. He didn't go around killing people though, he waited for the person to die then performed his craft. He was fine, sitting in his manor and studying necromancy, but the wizards of the times found him threatening, having the power to take _others_ power, and formed an army against him. Not wishing to die he formed his own and fought with the light wizards, until he was assassinated by a spy in his ranks.

* * *

It had been a month since the article about his disappearance and he was coming along at about an average pace in his dark arts, he was informed by Lucius.

Tonight he was invited to a social event with Lucius, for the upper classes of wizarding society. Being seen as an up and coming wizard, being friends with Lucius, had reserved him a place at the ball. Lucius had found him a partner to escort and had sent a house-elf, to help him get ready, with some special robes and jewelry as a gift. The ball was set to start at 9 o'clock tonight, so he called the house-elf at 7 o'clock to begin getting ready.

The elf gave him a choice of robes; fine silk black, deep red velvet, and green and gold cotton. He chose the black silk liking the feel. After fixing himself in the bathroom and making himself presentable, he asked the elf about the jewelry. It just showed him a roll of cloth. Upon rolling it out he was stared at by numerous glittering objects. A silver watch, a ruby earring shaped like a fang, a necklace made of platinum, and a golden tie for his hair. He got most of the jewelry on without help and a little advice from the elf, but the earring mystified him. Lucius knew he didn't have his ear pierced so why the earring? He wasn't ungrateful just confused.

The elf being in its helpful nature noticed his master's friend giving the piece of jewelry a look of confusion. He looked at the human's ear and noticed no hole. He jumped when he reached the obvious conclusion. "Master's friend sir I can help you! I can pierce your ear for you!"

Harry gave the elf a grateful look and sat down to be at a better level for the elf, "Thank you, if you please." The elf raised a finger and suddenly he felt his ear sting. He motioned the elf to put in the earring as well, which it did with a snap of the fingers.

After sending the elf away, he apperated to the Malfoy manor. He had discovered that this had been where he had been training for four months and never found out. He met Lucius and his wife at the door, he bowed to her and kissed her hand in greeting, being his first formal meeting. She gave him a smile, "So this is my Husband's protégée he talks so much of. What a wonderful young man, how old are you Anima?"

"I'm sixteen ma'am, and I should tell you what a pleasure it is to meet the wife of such a distinguished man." He smiled back playing the game he would be playing all night. Lucius had taught him the wizard customs and how these types of events are always just a large game of either intimidation of flaunting.

"Sixteen! Should you not be in school?" she exclaimed.

"I have been trained in basic magic by my family as is custom of the first born. After the family education it is up the person to find a tutor in whatever magic he wishes to specialize in." he explained in the set-up lie he had made and practiced months ago.

"Acerbus," she said his last name thoughtfully, "I thought that family died out over a millennia ago." Harry was impressed she even knew of them, an old family of elementals in Italy between the 200 B.C. to around 900 A.D., totally destroyed by a rival family.

"It did. The first of my line took the name as a sign of respect in 13th century, it's a little foggy but that is the accepted history. The family has never played an important role, always being in the background and nearly always neutral." He explained

"Wonderful, I hope to discuss family history with you more later on, but I do believe we most take our portkey." The guests were required to portkey there for security purposes. He was also meeting his escort there at the ball, which was being held at the Ministers Manor.

_

* * *

_

Check it out in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them If you don't have it, Occamy eggshells are made of silver. And Runespoors are favored snakes of Dark wizards

The Next chapter will be the ball and Harry's first meeting with Voldemort.


	4. The Ball

The Hunt

Chapter 4- The Ball

* * *

Harry spun his partner around; she came back and rested in his arms again. He reflected on how entertaining the night had been so far.

When he arrived with the Malfoy's he quickly found his date. A gorgeous woman a few years older than him, but he didn't complain. He bowed to her, taking her hand and kissing it. She gave him an appraising look before smiling, with a certain light in her eye that excited him. He gave her his arm before starting in with small talk.

At the entrance to the ballroom, a portly figure announced them. A few people looked at them then continued onto their own business, except one. Mr. Fudge came over face beaming.

"Good evening, young Mr. Acerbus, Madam Constrat. I thank you both for attending my ball. A fine chance for up and coming wizards to meet new people." He winked in Harry's direction, Harry forced a smile onto his face, Emily (his date) seemed to notice and smirked, but Fudge was obvious. "I'll leave you, I have to meet a Greek Ministry official, great gods I hope the man speaks English…" he sighed shaking Harry's hand, and nodding to Emily.

"Not a fan of Fudge's?" she asked, smiling.

"You could say that," he grimaced, causing her rather high-pitched laughter to sound, "How about we dance before another pompous person has the urge to talk to us?" She nodded her agreement.

Leading the way to the floor, they danced to the waltz that was playing. He led her flawlessly through it, which seemed to cause attention to the young couple as they moved across the floor, seemingly skating instead of dancing. When the song ended both breathlessly headed to a table where there appeared two glasses of wine.

They sat sipping the wine, as she talked about herself. She had grown up in England and moved to France to attend Beauxbatons. Her brother it seemed was still there and was one of those chosen to go to Hogwarts for the Tri-wizard tournament.

She would have continued as Harry nodded and made the right comments in the right places as he stared into her eyes, and roaming to other places. Until they noticed a line of people waiting to talk. Harry motioned for the men standing to sit.

"Good evening, my word both of you are fantastic dancers, where did you learn?" his Yorkshire accent heavy, "Oh I'm terribly sorry I'm Deedwill Fortantank." He extended his hand.

"Pleasure, Anima Acerbus. I learned by a fabulous dance instructor. She guided me to where I am. If you would like the name, you should talk to Mr. Malfoy, he set me up with her. Wonderful teacher." Harry told them, this was truth, Lucius had found a beautiful and incredibly talented woman.

"I have been dancing since I was old enough to walk, it is my one true love." Emily answered. Smiling blissfully.

* * *

They kept answering questions of curious people, until a faster song came up. They smiled at each other. They rose at the same time, moving to the floor gracefully. Many were watching as the two spun and twirled to the fast pace that many could not keep up with. Her dark hair spun and whirled around her face as she moved. Harry's, where it escaped the ponytail, also curled around his face.

Her white robes contrasted well with her black hair. Harry's white blond hair also contrasting with his dark robes. They moved fast, giving off a little blur that none could decide whether was from their movements or magic that seeped from them to give an unearthly display.

A dark haired beauty surrounded by a white aura. A light haired figure engulfed with a black aura. They moved and it seemed that the auras mixed, swirling, and combining. The music slowed, they slowed at perfect match to it, finally stopping, she rested her head on his shoulder.

The auras gone, it seemed to be just their robes. Lucius was watching and knew that it was not, but also knew that it only happened only with emotionally charged individuals that shared in an emotion-releasing event.

The cheering was thunderous for the two dancers. They smiled in appreciation at the crowd that had gathered around them. Slow music started now filling the hall. Emily wrapped her arms around his neck leaning in and resting her head against his chest, looking up into the sky blue eyes, while he stared into her wild violet ones, his arms around her waist, his hands moving in slow soft circles, across her lower back, causing shivers to run up her spine. Her own hands drifting around his head, moving his blonde hair, and tracing the veins of his neck, making blood rush to his head.

* * *

The night went as so, for hours. They seemed to spark a lustful connection. Taking pleasure in seeing the reaction of the other. They seemed content to just move in slow rhythms, working the others libido. As they shared a passionate kiss, an explosion rocked the Manor. Screams rebounded around the hall. Harry looked for the source and saw dark robes and white masks. "Whatever happens stay with me." He quickly told her, she nodded, dumbfounded, clutching at his arm. Harry saw several Aurors grab Fudge and lead him through a hallway to his freedom.

The Death eaters quickly barred all chances of escape. They moved through the crowd picking out important figures. He saw Lucius right before he tapped his shoulder. "Take this, if a Death Eater asks any questions of you, just show it to him." Tossing a small bracelet to Harry, he looked at the girl, "Stay with him, or you could very well die this night." He finished.

Harry put the bracelet on, examining it. It was silver, he could tell, with several snakes forming it, with their eyes sparkling, he looked closer; each snake had diamonds for eyes. Emily was staring in awe at the jewelry.

Looking up he saw the Death Eaters separating the crowd into two sections, as they moved towards the back, where he and Emily were. When they were upon them, a short one stood before him, wand ready. "What is your name, boy?" he asked, monotonously. Harry lifted his arm to show the bracelet to the man. His eyes glittered behind the mask, "Move to the front with our lord." He commanded, "Take the woman with you." He said eyeing her.

She seemed apprehensive of doing anything, but followed Harry, who led her, by the hand, to the front where Voldemort stood in all his dark glory, "Do not speak unless spoken to." He warned her. She nodded fearfully. A few Death Eaters stood at Voldemort's side.

"Who are you, young one?" his high-pitched voice, directed at him. Voldemort looked directly at him, most likely trying to use Legilimens, but Harry kept his eyes averted from the figure. He bowed, fully, showing no apprehension.

"Anima Denuo Acerbus, milord." Voldemort seemed to smile, almost appreciating his manners. Harry cleared his mind, his face blank. "And may I present Emily Lisa Constrat, my lord?" She bowed deeply to Voldemort, before returning to Harry's side.

"Welcome Anima, your presence will be most enjoyable. Constrat, I haven't heard from that family for years, welcome also. Both of you stand at my side." He ordered, waving away two others. "Are both of you in training, or just one?" He asked keeping an eye on the hostages as well.

"I am, sir. She is my escort. I have been training for nearly six months, milord. I am eager to enter your service." He bowed again. Voldemort looked intrigued by something.

"You have no interest in joining me, Emily?" he asked of her. Fear passed through her eyes at the weighted question. But responded tactfully.

"I have nothing to offer you, milord, I am a professional dancer." She told him meekly. Her whole presence seemed sub-missive.

"Well you never know what is there to offer, until you search the depths of your soul." The Dark Lord replied, he pushed her chin up gently, looking into her eyes. She stiffened at his intrusion, but settled into a trance-like calm. He broke the connection, "You do have potential to be great, and it is there inside, waiting." He then stepped forward, halting further conversation. The room silenced seeing the motion from He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

* * *

He motioned to a Death Eater; he had the group of sympathizers move away from the others. The other group consisted of ministry officials, some of the foreign nationals, and light supporters. "You," he spread his arms encompassing the group of light wizards, "are those unfortunate enough to not support me. You are wizards that believe yourselves to be good, with your ways set out for you. I am here to tell you that you are nothing, and that good will not win. For right now I have some of the leading political leaders of the European wizarding nations. They will die, as will those who stand by them." He spun around leading away his followers, leaving his Death Eaters to take care of those he left, he was sure that the savagery bestowed upon the light this night would be remembered for a long time.

He turned to those that merely supported him, but were not his. "You are still safe, your identities will not be known to the light, for none of them will survive, and the guest list has been destroyed. You were not here to the world. Leave, go your ways, and keep safe from those that oppose you." With that strange blessing they all left, apperated away. Almost all left, Acerbus, though, stayed by his Lord.

"My Lord, I have something of which you should be pleased to know." Voldemort appeared curious. He nodded his approval. "_I have a certain affinity to snakes."_ He hissed. The Dark Lord raised his eyebrows, in slight surprise.

"_This is good, I haven't had another Parsel since before my first downfall. He was my right-hand, I hope to see you succeed to that level."_ Voldemort hissed back. He laid a hand on Harry's shoulder. Then he was gone.

* * *

Harry turned to Emily, "I am so sorry that you were exposed to this. I should have known something like this…."

He was cut off, "It's alright. My family was planning to pledge allegiance to the Dark Lord this year, anyway. I would never have guessed that you, though, was a dark supporter."

"Well, you know the saying, whichever way the wind blows. I take advantage of this situation. So then what were your plans before the party was interrupted?" his hand had found a way behind her and pulled her to him quickly. She smiled lustily.

"I had planned on going home and to bed. My plans have yet to change." Harry seemed confused and down for a moment, before catching on.

"Not alone I hope?" he breathed.

"Where did you get that idea?" She said into his lips as she parted them and moved her tongue along his. His hand wound into her hair, before he thought of something, he pulled back.

"Well, lead on to your home, I believe that soon enough Aurors should be here and we should not." She looked slightly frightened, held him and apperated to her bedroom. "I see we're a little anxious." But he didn't let her answer as he kissed her again. He flicked his hand, and the heavy robes found their way to the floor. He began unbuttoning her blouse, trailing his mouth across her neck, suckling here and there, and nipping at pulse points, eliciting moans from her.

Soon enough they found the bed and clothes had disappeared. They were so caught up in the passion of the moment that they didn't hear the door close and a shadow chuckle as he disapperated.


	5. Charges

The Hunt

Chapter 5

Charges

* * *

Slap. "Just do it, boy, are you a wizard or not!" Harry growled and concentrated, he was a wizard damn it who was he to… Just then a fire sprung from in front of his hand lighting the candle in front of him. He scowled at Lucius, rubbing his cheek.

"Fine I got it." Slap.

"You haven't got anything. You will do it again, and you will do other things until you become a wizard. As of now you are not fit for the name of wizard, you are lower then anything I have seen in quite some time. Until you rid yourself of your crutch you are nothing but a muggle with a stick." Lucius was standing over him now, screaming in his face. Harry almost cowered away, but held his ground. He blew out the candle, placed his hand over it and concentrated on his anger, seconds passed before it lit, and died. His eyes flashed with anger, the candle was lit. He continued in this pattern until it was lit upon his own will, not his anger.

Lucius had long ago left to finish his own work, upon his return he found Animus snapping his fingers and the candle was replaced by a large flame, the wax melted and was left in a pool upon the table. "Good that is a beginning. You have earned the title of mage now, a student of magic, but until you can do the most basic things without a focus you will not be a wizard.

"Try an unlocking charm." Lucius told him, then left again. Harry took his wand from the holster at his hip, conjured a padlock. Putting his wand away, he again called upon his anger to help him. Anger was the easiest access to his magic, it allowed for quick powerful contact. He saw the lock popping open in his mind, but could not find the anger. His pushed a finger to the padlock, nothing. He raised his fist and pounded it in frustration, nothing.

He didn't need emotion to do this, he did the fire without emotion after awhile. Lucius was right, he was no wizard; he just traded one focus for another. A wizard does magic because he can do magic. To be a wizard, his mind and his magic must work as one. He commanded his magic, he did not ask to use his magic, did not plead with it for usage, it was his to do with as he pleased. He ordered the lock to open, and it did. He ordered the candle out of existence. He ordered the lock to be a candle, he was in control, he was a wizard.

Again Lucius came by to check on him. When Lucius entered Harry conjured a sword, wandless, and gave it to Lucius, knelt before him. "Please name me wizard." Lucius nodded, put the sword on top of his head and spoke.

"You are a wizard, Animus Acerbus." Harry rose with a smile and a laugh, Lucius laughed as well, but grew serious. He accepted the sword from Lucius and created a scabbard and placed it on his opposite hip from his wand. "There is little else that you will be able to learn from me, you have exceeded all expectations put before you. The Dark arts are yours to command; you know the blackest of all magicks and the most powerful of them as well. You will be a formidable enemy for all your foes. You and your Family will always be welcome among the Malfoys, let none break this bond." Lucius grabbed his forearm, while Harry did the same, the bond of two families was a very strong social connection, it neared the magical level. "The only thing you need to know is that you must know your limits and do not cross them, using more magic then you are capable of handling is not healthy and could in fact kill you. Goodbye." Harry wondered how Lucius knew he was leaving know.

"Goodbye Lucius, you have taught me well, I hope I will make you proud." Harry bowed, gathered his things that were scattered about the Malfoy Manner, said goodbye to Narcissa and Draco.

* * *

Back in his apartment in the city, he started setting up his living room. He took a book from a shelf on the far side of the room. His apartment had gotten steadily larger as his magical skill grew, making it into nearly a penthouse, what was once a small three room flat. He opened the book to a marked page, re-read it again and again. The side-affects were not serious, but combined with other rituals he would later perform; it would change his whole personality.

He created an alter, with ceremonial knife made of obsidian. One end of the alter had a small rivulet heading towards the end and what looked like a gutter. He needed a person without contact with magic, to be sacrificed.

The decision to do this had been a long one in the making, when he had found the ritual spell, the affects were perfect, but the thought of sacrificing a person had sickened him then. Now it bothered him, but his mantra of _for the greater good_ had carried him a long way, and one life was not going to stop him now. For a person untouched by magic, that would be difficult to find as almost all regions of the world had magical communities, except for one, the northern reaches of Siberia. There were few villages up there but they were untouched by magic. He had scouted one out, and found the person he would use. The spell did not call for a specific kind of person, so he chose an older man that lived alone.

When he reached the house he opened the door and strode into the living room where the man was sitting in a chair reading a strange book. "Excuse me? Can I help you?" The man spoke in surprisingly unaccented English.

"I have come to take you with me."

"Could I know your name?"

"I am Death."

"Are you now? How fascinating, carry on then." The man seemed totally unperturbed, Harry shook his head sadly.

"Unfortunately for you it will be painful." Harry drew his wand, silencing the house and closing it off to others. He placed the wand to the man's neck right where the jugular vein resided. He pressed against the spot, and started to release dark magic directly into the man's blood. He seemed too shocked by the pain to scream. He continued pouring it in until he saw black in his veins instead of red.

Taking hold of the man's arm he apperated to his apartment, setting the man quickly unto the alter, he would soon be dead from the dark magic in his blood. He obsidian knife glittered ominously. He pulled the man's shirt off. He took the knife in steady hands, and pushed it into the man's chest, as far as it could go. The blood came gushing forward, black as night. It flowed into the gutters at the side of the table, filling them and staining the stone black. Harry cast a charm to keep the blood moving; otherwise it would congeal. He took a silver goblet from behind him, filled it with the blood, and he drank. Harry collapsed to the floor. Convulsing with pain. Blissful unconsciousness came to him.

* * *

Harry woke late the next day. He couldn't remember the date; it had been so long since he had cared. The pain from the night before had stayed with him, if to a smaller degree. He hurried to the bathroom; he threw up into the sink, and up came red blood. It had worked, he thought with detachment. The blood carried the dark magic in a form that his body could absorb. The blood coming back up normal meant that he had been able to absorb the magic. He could have done it with pure light magic as well, it would have been exactly the same, but if he used light magic as a booster, his light magic would have been stronger. Now with the dark magic in his body, his dark magic was strengthened.

* * *

Tonight was his first meeting with the dark lord. It would be him and Lucius. The dark lord would assess his abilities and decide where to place him among the ranks. Harry hoped he would get somewhere close to the dark lord himself; otherwise his whole plot would be for nothing. Hopefully he could convince the dark lord that he was good enough for his service.

He checked the mirror again, his nervousness convincing him that something was wrong. But nothing was. He sighed and he took several deep breaths. With that he apperated to Lucius. They greeted each other, Lucius nodding at his attire. Then Lucius grabbed his arm in pain, he held onto Harry apperating away.

Harry found himself in front of a small dwelling, a one floor cottage. He walked slightly behind Lucius, back straight, head up, and eyes down. Inside he found first a small coat room, he continued through behind Lucius into the main area of the house. It reminded him of the scene he had seen in his first vision back at the beginning of fourth year. The tall chair was facing the doorway he had walked through, with a large fireplace framing it. Voldemort sat with his fingers tips together, fully back in the chair.

Lucius bent to one knee and rose again. Following the procedure that Lucius had taught him, Harry knelt on both knees and dropped his head, full submission. Voldemort took his wand, placed it against the boys head, this was Animus' sign to stand. He stood and dropped back until he was a step behind Lucius.

"Animus Acerbus, what is your greatest desire?"

"For my lineage to continue on after me, to be the head of a large and influential family." The best answer he could give, at least that was as Lucius had told him.

"What do you have to offer me?"

"My gifts, my wand, and my life." The tone of ritual had descended upon the room.

"Good, then let this be the mark to remember all that you give." Voldemort signaled to him, Animus strode forward, rolled his sleeve up and knelt again. The dark lord's wand pressed into his skin,

"_Morsmordre." _The magic swept through him, connecting him to the Dark Lord, and to his other marked ones. The small tattoo settled into his skin, and stared menacingly up at him.

"Thank you my Lord." He rose and stood at equal distance to Lucius.

"Let us talk, Lucius you may go. You told me you were a Parsletongue? Have you learned of the magic performed in this language?"

"All I was taught in my apprenticeship was the Dark arts of Battle and Assignation. The magicks used with parsletongue I have never heard of."

"Ah, you will have to come to me for learning, I teach my lieutenants personally, and the same shall be of you." The smile was of a type of contentedness.

"My Lord honors me with such a position for a fresh recruit." He did not say it outright, but he was quite curious as to why he was a lieutenant and he had just got the mark, but one's life expectancy goes down considerably when you question the dark lord.

"I can smell the dark magic in you. It is a scent that can only be achieved two ways; one by using dark magic for years upon years, as I have; or by performing dark magic rituals that infuse it into your body. I believe what happened is obvious. With this ritual you have surpassed other marked ones in usefulness."

"My lord knows all."

"Indeed. Now you will be in charge of a number of lower marked ones, twenty at most. When we go into battle you will be in charge of them, you will hand out punishment as you see fit for transgressions, but I tell you now if any one of them even looks backwards you will kill him understand? You will make them come to you using your mark, you will make them train, and you will make them into machines, understand? They will look to you in support that you must give them, they cannot get this from me, I hope you realize why. But you must not be afraid to punish should need arise. Now I will see you on the Eve of Christmas to see your progress." The dark lord gave him the names of which he would be in charge of, and how to use his mark to call them. "You are dismissed." Animus knelt and left quickly.

He hoped he could meet the dark lords commands, he did not need to feel the cruciotus anytime soon.


End file.
